I haven't served, but my little brother has. He was in the US Navy as an avionics electrician in the ASW squadron VS-32 stationed in Jacksonville, Florida. He also did 3 patrols (2 of which involved combat) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
Apparently, their first patrol was fraught with problems. When they were just a week out of port 2 of the ship's reactors had to be shut down due to some cooling problems. A few days after that the firefighting crew managed to drive their tractor overboard (no casualties though). Later, their fresh water filter broke down so no one could shower for days.
On the second patrol, they had a catapult failure and one of the S-3s was launched into the ocean (the crew were rescued safely though).
Quite dramatic! I wonder if this sort of thing is common in other navies. :hmm:
Anyway, after the 3rd patrol, my brother transfered to the experimental test squadron VX-1 based in Maryland, where it's probably a lot safer.
